Bloomingayls

I'm thankful for

my grandson Devin, who shares his wonder ~ through his eyes, everything in life is new.

We're in this together. . .

Last night after a very full day of crafting and good dinner, I cat napped on the couch.  We were watching a less than extraordinary football game and it wasn't holding my attention.  After dozing off, I woke up to Ted saying " WOW that was an amazing game, unbelievable ~ I wonder how many people left the stadium thinking that it was over".  After a crazy coaching call by Bill Belichick, the Colts came back to win the game 35-34. . .all in the final seconds of the game.  In my sleep stupor it took several takes of the replay and a little discussion by the announcers to see that the team that should have lost prevailed. 

I bring this up, because it is so very much the way I feel about today.  Those of us who have been lobbying against health care reform have been vocal; we're using all available resources to stop this bad legislation and we need to continue.  We can prevail if we remember to keep our heads in the game; the point is we need to stay in our seats, support our team and continue to fight.  Harry Reid is seeking cloture this week.  We need to stop him.  Make a trip to Hugh Hewitt website.  His November 12th post gives information on the four or five Democrat Senators vulnerable for re-election and perhaps willing to join the band-wagon of the sane to prevent this travesty.   Contact these people, make your voice heard and don't give up.  A win by any other name is still a win. . .even if it comes as the last play of the game.

Crafty kinda post

Spur of the moment ~ I signed up for a card class taught by Jean at the Paper Vineyard.  She has such a casual-gracious style.  I went by myself, met new people, Liz, who is new to stamping and drove all the way from Desert Ridge and Celina another "newbie" who was a great table mate.  There were five of us total ~ good times for all and we each left with 8 holiday cards.

THE DECEMBER DAILY

Each of us who participates in the December Daily has their own agenda.  Top of my list is the chance to try new techniques.  The beauty of this book is that anything goes. For my "No. 1", I used a Tim Holtz grunge board piece that I embossed with a mixture of U-Tee and Ultra Fine Glitter.  This is a variation of a new You-Tube technique from Marion Smith. 

It looks like vinyl with a gold finish.  Used gold Modge Podge on this very cool Cosmo Cricket paper.  The secret to good Modge-Podge - Websters Dictionary placed on top for 24 hours. . .guaranteed to dry flat.

Yesterday, roaming through Michaels I came across different colored duct tape.  For day "6", I wrapped chipboard with it.  It's the bomb!  I'm thinking about going back for some green. 

 The December Daily is an irregular book, meaning it contains pages of irregular sizes.  Wedged between traditional scrapbook pages in protectors, I have chipboard and transparencies.  How the different layers intertwine with one another is the charm of the book.  This is such a fantastic way to journal.  

I read about the Bo-Bunny Christmas line on the Mystic Paper Website.  Didn't have the opportunity to drive there this weekend, but I did find the paper at The Paper Vineyard.  It has that vintage feel, with Santa's that remind me of my childhood.  Another find, at Michael's I bought a Making Memories 30 page holiday journal.  I cut out the spiral binding and I am using the individual sheets throughout this book.  I made it through page 10 - 15 more pages to go.  Between this morning and doing this book and 3 hours in class, I'm  pooped.  

Time to finish making dinner and watching a little football with Ted.  Hawkeye is back to gather provisions and head south again for two more days at the hunt.  He isn't seeing deer, but he's gathering rocks and discovering the beauty of Arizona.  He made the comment tonight that in comparison to star gazing in California's Sierras, something he always though was special, the Arizona skies at night are spectacular. ENJOY!
 
 

I'm thankful for

living in an area of the country where cloudy skies give way to sunshine in hours not days or months.

Had the camera out to picture Autumn wreath and couldn't resist a photo of the girls.

Loved this - Bailey trying to stand on her head to get Dagen's attention.  After all these years, she still doesn't get it. . .Dagen the Dog-gone-dog is a very stubborn dog!

A Sam's Club find. 

Ms. Turkey comes out of my room and makes her debut on the holiday table.

I made the most of yesterday, sticking to the house the entire time.  That leaves errands for today.  Jenny and I spoke about hooking up for some creative time at Make-A-Wish, the pottery painting place.  This is something that Jen does regularly with friends.  Creating can be such a stress reliever and if everything works out you get to take something home.  As I cleaned, I kept adding things to my list.  It's filled with ideas that have crossed my mind, but never come to fruition.  The beauty of the three day weekend ~ there is more time for everything.

Erin and Devin are exhausted.  Crunch time for her as she prepares for her test next week and works on end of the semester projects.  Dev is going through a really rough time, acting out at school.  His life is way too complicated for a 4 1/2 year old.  I will be so thankful when they move back down here; the official date is December 12th. I can't think of a parent I know who hasn't gone through something similar with their children.  The problem is that when your children hurt, in this case my child and my grandchild, you hurt too.  All of us parents want nothing more than to see our kids happy and doing well.

Didn't hear from Ted yesterday.  I'm expecting him back sometime today or tomorrow.  I know for him it isn't so much about the hunt as getting out.  Most of our camping gear is in California.  He has the bare essentials, his bike and a gun.  He is set to jet for a few days.  He was fried after several weeks in Jenny's backyard getting the lawn in.  He paced himself in the beginning, but in the end, when there was rental equipment involved, he was putting in 9 hour days.  The weather didn't cooperate.  We had unseasonably high temps which can make him grouchy just sitting in the house.  By the time he left on Thursday, I'm sure he was clambering for a little solitude and the great outdoors.

That's pretty much it for family life.  I want to crack open the new cookbook and see if there are some "diet friendly" recipes. I was really interested in this cookbook because Gourmet has ceased publication and because the editor is famous for contributions to the New York Times cookbooks ~ some of the best out there.  I did see a fantastic recipe online for a spinach salad with roasted cherry tomatoes. May have to try that tonight. I'm still dieting although I haven't been in to weigh in a month.  I've dieted now with and without the hCG shots.  It really is all about the diet.  I seem to have more energy when I do the shots, but they have no impact on my weight loss.  I'm such a bear in the winter. I think a lot of coming home tired from work has to do with cooler temps and the dark.  I shut down.  

I need to hit the shower, thumb through my paper supply to see what kind of Christmas paper I have on had, run a dozen errands and make way for some creative time.  ENJOY!
 

I read about this cookbook in the Costco News.  I've been looking for a new cookbook ~ Merry Christmas~ this is it.

Ted is out playing Natty-Bumppo and I'm at home.  This has been such a busy week; home late 3 out of 4 nights from work, scrambling at the beginning of the week to provide requested information to our Board, fielding numerous phone calls because we had yet another leak in the line that caused huge delays in service, catching up the usual stuff so that I can make time for the extraordinary. 

But today, I'm off.  A spur of the moment vacation day to finish cleaning the house, decorate for Thanksgiving and begin my Holiday projects.  Front and center is the Advent Calendar for Jenny's house.  On a lark, I clicked on Mystic Paper to see if they were featuring any Christmas items.  I was excited to see that Shirley is teaching the "Advent Calendar" again this very weekend.  We were her first class last year.  She gifted us with such an amazing project and oodles of good things to make it fun. With her teaching this weekend there was a short blurb about the "stuff" the store has on hand for the perfect Advent Calendar.  How fortuitous!

One thing I didn't get to do this week was write about Veteran's Day.  Saluting the military is a frequent theme in my blog.  Wednesday as I was driving home, Hugh Hewitt featured phone calls with wounded vets from all over the Nation who were associated with the "Semper Fi Fund".  The fund itself is amazing.  It's a resource for wounded Marines, that reaches out to them quickly and efficiently as they recover and recast their lives.  They make it possible for loved ones to be with their soldiers during the recovery period, they provide funding for special needs to cope with disabilities and limitations and the most important thing ~ the fund doesn't dither, the soldiers put in a legitimate request and the check is in the mail.  I don't know who "Lisa" is, but she is central to the program ; kudos to her for her service to these soldiers, their families and the Nation.

I must have had time to listen to a dozen different stories. It was comforting to hear how real Americans feel about the Country.  These people served this Nation without hesitation, given the opportunity they go back into service, no regrets, and they reinforce the value of this precious commodity we know as "Freedom". They don't whine about their losses; they understand what they protected.

The Freedom we enjoy in the United States was conceived out of a fight in 1776.  In the general scheme of things, ours is a short history, but since the beginning there has been one menace after another attacking our principals, trying to reign in our freedom, "change" our lives and destroy our government. No generation has been exempt; our Freedom has been paid for with human lives.

How convenient that we abandon the teaching of history in our school system.  No perspective, no reminders of the price of freedom, the loss of life, the stress on our economy, no reference to the lessons we should have learned; instead we watch the elected leader of this great nation cowering from one country to the next as he makes apologies for our greatness, and commits us to policies of weakness. What a tragedy should our loss of Freedom come at the hands of waning national pride, and the leadership of the long legged Mack-Daddy who would pimp us out to pad his personal agenda.  Shame on us if we let this happen.  I am thankful for Veterans Day as a reminder of the men and women who continue to serve this nation, their families and the Freedom they defend.

I'm thankful for . . .

A FRIDAY TO MYSELF!

Thankful for. . . .

The perfect pre-retirement job; good people, good work!

 

My niece Ali and her daughter Ashleigh

 

A common theme this month - things to be thankful for.  Diane and Colleen are doing it on Facebook, and I thought it would be good for me to do on my Blog.  You can never over estimate the blessings that come with family and friends.  Not only am I thankful for them, they are my "raison d'etre".

 

I am sure that Ali is wearing earrings that she made herself  ~ so talented and smart.  I think I have four pair of these gems and I wear them all the time.

 

 

 

Stop beating the dog. . .

Don't you find there are certain spots where you do your best thinking?  Pour moi it was the shower for years,  but lately it's been the car.  I have strange driving habits;  I have made it from Arizona to California and back again without ever listening to the radio. It follows that the car would provide me with a peaceful. uncluttered environment in which to think.

Initially when I left this house this AM, I was thinking about the road ~ it wasn't shut down yesterday, would it be today? and if it was how much time would it cost me?  Traffic was light today, but I think this diversion may take traffic out of the mix for me.  Would this not be a blessing - something to be thankful for.

Past that point of interest, I did try the Mike Gallagher show for a bit and a little Barry Young.  As frustration mounts, you can hear in their voices and you know by the content of their programs that they're beating the dog. Day-in, day-out they are on a rant against Obama, against progressive liberals and against a world gone mad.  They're fed up.  So. . . I shut it off. We all know what the problems are; it's time to talk about the solutions.

Hugh Hewitt posted an idea yesterday, calling for the NRCC to begin a specific campaign to oust the 20 most vulnerable Democrats facing re-election in 2010.  I'm with him; the NRCC is antiquated in their approach to waging war against the Obama menace.  I loved Hewitt's idea.  Basically if each of us donated as little as $20 to the fund and the fund is divided equally between all 20 races, we would be putting a buck toward unseating every one of them. The more you can donate the better, but even the smallest of contributions would assist in making a statement.  This is a strong, positive approach that everyone of us can get behind; not the constant whaling about what's wrong.

Obama loves to call us dissidents names and we play into his game when we whine with substance and no action.  We should all be thinking, like Hewitt has, of tangible, substantive ways to run this administration to ground.  I want Obama gone, and I want him gone in such a way that history portrays him as the loathsome, anti-American, tyrannical President he is. The radical progressive movement of the early 21st century needs to be characterized as short lived, and detrimental to American life.  Everyone needs to understand how easy it was for this jerk to get his foot in the door,  and with the fear of God, make sure they  understand Americans should never become so complacent as to allow this to happen again. It is imperative that  future generations never have to deal with a potential Marxist-socialist takeover of our great Nation.

It's time to stop beating the dog and start beating those Democrats.  This is something I know I will ENJOY!

Took this photo as a part of my week in October ~ I'm up way early today stressing about the commute.  Another mile down, past the Chandler Airport entrance is McQueen.  This is where I make my right and catch the freeway. . .McQueen is being overhauled to add another couple of lanes in each direction.  From now through December the road will be closed.  I keep going through my options, none of them good.  It's an automatic 15 min addition to my commute.

This commute business parallels my thoughts about life in general.  We head into this Monday with a full plate and the arduous task of defending our freedom. Once again were being called upon to make an impromptu shift in priorities to stand up to the US Senate and say "don't you dare".  I wanted to share this opinion piece taken from the Detroit News;  Jobs a low priority for Democrats. . . It's well written and nails the dilemma we find ourselves in.  It was reassuring to me to know that someone else shares my opinion and it validates the focus of our continuing fight. 

In the short run ~ already thinking about lunch, which really means a quick stop at Albertsons.  Add another 10 minutes to my commute. . Looks yummy.  Actually it isn't bad.  I've been doing the whey shakes since I started this diet.  Last week Patsy brought me a  plastic shaker to mix it in.  This thing is amazing.  A small ball, much like the end of a wire whisk rotates with every shake of the cup.  No more clumps of powder sitting at the bottom. 
 
Had this picture in "old" blog.  Sun is actually setting, but for some reason it reminds me of the promise of a new day.  We have such beautiful skies in Arizona.

These teens were hanging out at Disneyland when Erin and I were there.  Love their shirts - love the message and most of all love the idea that there are kids being taught good American values.  These children are our hope, they are our future.  Do ya think they have any idea what Obama's big spending plans will mean for their lifetime? bet not!

Talk about smoking mirrors.  If I look at this long enough it appears to be a corridor of steps;  it's just a carpeted hallway.  It is the long row we have to hoe!

ENJOY!